The Louisiana Democrat., 1887-02-23

hand she often pressed against her
heaving bosom; the noises from joel
region seemed as lost upon her as upon
the deaf; her whole life seemed in her
eyes; slowly they filled and the paper
fiuttered downward to the floor; the
dreamer stirred and murmured, the
white presence trembled and stood
still as marble image with down.
cast ewes. Suddenly the sleeper started,
looked up: "My God'' and sprang
back with frightened eyes. The white
figure stood still, gazing on the floor.
II have come to-give--you-back-
your-own," the lips said.
20 Celeste! Celeste" and he sprang
toward her with hands extended, ''you
are my own! 0 give me yourself!
give me yourself" But she wayered
back.
IL don't care for what he did," be
cried, Il forgive him for your sake!
You have suffered! 0 you have suf-
fered! but / couldn't pain you by
staying! l couldn't! l couldn't! |
couldn' t." and he would have fallen
before her in the agony of his
pleading had not the girl, with a
cry that might have been the ineffable
cry of one come back from death,
leaped into his arms, sobbing and kiss
ing him with joy.
HShe had loved him always" she
said; '.she had thought him lost to her,
driven away by her kinsman's deed!
All, God! how happy she was! how
happy she was!"
Thus their naked souls had met,
their orphaned hearts had come to-
gether, their lips had kissed out the
past, and love had brought back to
John Earling all that it could of that
which hate had wrenched away. They
held to each other like two children;
they laughed and talked with the tears
glistening on their cheeks; the abys-
!, NAL path had suddenly emerged into
region of sunshine; love the divine
, balm, the savior in Nature, had turned
) the darkness into regal morning, and
, their lives were one. The young man
| held to her hand. his brave, his beauti-
: full, his loved Celeste! and, turning out
: the gas, they went down together and
: away to Mrs. Bowers.
: The street on their side of the square
!. was silent and deserted, but a great
crowd was on Joel's side, decorous
e enough at the center, save an occa-
S sional burst of applause, but royster-
d ing, mixing, moving on the outskirts.
}, They paused and listened moment,
e and watched Joel gyrating against a
{, background of smoke and flame, then
); holding fondly to each other passed
/, away into the musky summer dark
e ness, the soft kind night that shut them
,r in that perfect hour from all the world.
For years John Earling remembered
n that last glimpse of Joel as he loomed
', against the sheet of flame, and remem'
E, bered the last words he ever heard him
ID utter: "Fellow citizens, a mans life il
Y, nothing without success, as nation
4 is nothing without glory; you have
st helped to make mine what it is, again
i'd | thank your In an hour after tina
the young man heard them ringing
ID again in his ears, when told how
IS Joel had spoken for two hours in thu
ID dust and heat, and stepping down from
e. the platform at the close, and with th'
E. air torn by cheers that drowned hi
Id own last CRY, had reeled and fallel
Id among the trampling feet; had bee1
IL. carried through the seething crowd
~ where many yet were cheering wildl.
n for him. and laid down in his store
er stone dead.
n A blood-vessel in the big man
ry brain, brittle and eaten into by life
er time of abnormal heat and pressure
I'D had torn asunder-as for many il
IT. these heated straining days-and hi
,el dream, like half the dreams of earth
a had been swallowed up i'm darkness
H. that darkness where dreams do neve
n come.
n Well, what farther? The write
rk lifts his head after long and sadl
he Illuminating. Death and error are S
of sorrowful, and in putting together TIN
he little history have come so often. will
no out welcome, in at the doorway of b
he memory.
ry But where are the living elements
rs this history? All, long time ha
,e- gone, long train of gold and sombe
He days, and some are growing old, an
oh one has passed into the shadow
Ie, Julius Popp.
he Harry Whitney has grocery stoi
an in Openstone, not a very large on
en- and Yeslit is the mother of his Chi
SITS dren. They made a radiant soci
he flight with Joels money, a kind {
Tvs rainbow curve, and lit-not very cas-,
Mrs. Whitney and Reverend Cu
.oa tleton are one, and now are far alon
at e the path of life. They are living snu,
# ly, and we trust not unworthily, upc
,ld ID the generous third which Joel's sa
~ nv ings brought. Absalom Heater is no
"a, a., proprietor of Joel's big mill, and IL
o;r twins are sober, foury fellows iii
bis their father, strangely, honest, u
,ho right pair.
no nv But what of John Earling al
,at M Celeste and their philosophy Full
,ed honorable care, one sits upon the S
,eJ preme Bench in one of the States
AZ this, our noble federation. All mt
M. trust him, most men love him. B
hot cause he was honest, because he w
Inn I'm just, he has won, and because of the
an , has been given judgment among me
I the The other keeps his home, a room
tho modest one, sweet with song al
,nd ' loves perpetual summer. The hou
re- is of brick, and about it spreads sp
ess cious lawn shaded by burly OAK
! # there is grape arbor at one side al
flower garden at the other, and
be swing among the trees, but it is n
Of Judge Bowers; it is by larger, fair
for city, and children have found j
ard there, and every morn drive out t
,od silence.